Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE

“Smile. It will get you through the ups and downs and leave everyone around you in a happy place.” Anon

Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – Omega & Nature

Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – Home and the garden

Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – Where the heart finds a home

When things in the real world get too stressful, take a short while to close your eyes and visualize something nice. Go to your happy place in your mind and think of things that make you smile. Your imagination can help improve your mood more than you think. Dr Anil Kr Sinha

Where do you go when you need to think? When I think of Happy Places, many things come to mind; home, the sea, the garden, the Croton Aqueduct, the Catskills, Rhinebeck region, travels, good food, music and great company. All are places I go to think, refresh my mind and reconnect with my inner joy. Of course, the sages tell us that our Happy Place begins within and that is true. It is hard to be happy in even the most beautiful setting, if we are feeling miserable inside and holding grudges and anger towards others. Have you noticed that places look infinitely more beautiful when we are free from our “stuff,” and are able to see the world and all in it through new eyes?

“If all your thoughts and words are about what other people are doing wrong, maybe it’s time to go to your happy place.” Anon

Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – Omega & Nature

Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – Woodstock and the Hudson River

Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – Where food is offered to all

It was a good place for getting lost in, a city no one ever knew, a city explored from the neutral heart outward, until after many years, it defined itself into a jumble of clearings separated by stretches of the unknown, through which the narrowest of paths had been cut. V. S. Naipaul

How do you recharge your groove? I find that time spent in the countryside, in nature, and in the company of good music, friends and family gets my groove back. For this specific assignment, my choices for happy places center first around the Omega Institute in the Rhinebeck region, and then on Storefronts in Woodstock, NY, music events, inspirational folks and my garden flowers. Omega is a sanctuary; a place of respite from all that ails us and, whenever I’ve visited the area, even local eateries and trails, I feel connected to the earth and all that is good about the world. Woodstock has a legendary history of being a place where flower power and music lingered for years after folks had moved on. It remains a cozy, easy-going and welcoming place, and when I visit, I find a peace beyond description.

I do think the heart can balance out the mind, if your heart is in a good place it can give you the strength to do the right thing and behave the right way and overcome the mind. Alexis Arguello

How do you get your sense of humor back? No matter where our Happy Place is, we always come home to ourselves and our loved ones. When I need clarity and creative help, I find help in nature, on the aqueduct, by water, and in the exchanges and laughter I share with friends and family. We cannot have a happy place unless we are fully present in that space. When we allow the cacophony of daily life to interfere with our quiet times, we lose something precious. It is imperative that we make time for Self. It is equally important that we make time to remember that happiness is a choice and it doesn’t cost anything… Don’t give up. Just step outside and smell the fresh air. Take a walk by the water and reflect… You will be inspired. Have a Happy Weekend!

My fellow bloggers were equally creative with their selections. Check out how others interpreted the theme – HAPPY PLACE – below.

This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Daily Post: Weekly Photo Challenge: HAPPY PLACE – This week, we want you to show us where you go to get your groove back. Where do you go when you need to think? What do you do when you need to restore yourself, to ready yourself to take on the coming week with energy and verve? How do you get your sense of humor back? How do you recharge your groove?

Positive Motivation Tip: We all have places we go to rejuvenate and rejoice. The first place is within.

PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos copyrighted and from my Personal Collection.